The Unexpected Calling
Through the disaster of 3.11, God has raised a new generation of workers, many of whom never thought they would become missionaries
I was reluctant to consider mission work, because I knew how hard it was. My mom grew up as a missionary kid (MK) in the Philippines. I grew up with a huge map above our dining-room table covered with missionary prayer cards. My family often hosted missionaries and national workers. Many of my uncles, aunts, cousins, and siblings went to the mission field. The reality of raising money, meeting newsletter deadlines, traveling to churches, and coping with separation from friends and family was very real to me. While I had great experiences on short-term trips, I walked away aware of the hard realities of what it meant to minister in far-off places.
And yet, I can now see how God had prepared me for work in Tohoku. The disaster struck north-east Japan during my last semester in college. Just ten days after graduation, I found myself on a plane heading to Japan. What initially started as a three-month trip extended to almost five years of work with Ishinomaki Christian Center (ICC) under the title of “missionary.” During those five years, I’ve discovered many others who have been similarly prepared for ministry.
ICC Field Director Stephen Nakahashi (33) grew up as a preacher’s kid (PK) in Mie Prefecture and was also fully aware of the difficulties of full-time ministry. But as God would have it, Stephen was in Osaka looking for a job when he was pursued by Samaritan’s Purse to work as a translator. He initially turned down the job, but after deliberating for two more weeks, he finally decided to sign a contract for six months, after which he intended to switch to a “real” job. It soon became clear that God was doing much more through him than using him as a translator. By the end of 2012, he was in full-time ministry with ICC.
Nozomi Houlette (24) is an MK from Saitama, Japan. Through an internship with Harvard University, she worked at ICC for a couple of summers. She said, “Being half North American and half Japanese, I had, and still continue to deal with, baggage concerning ministry and missions work in Japan.” But she confessed that, “Volunteering in Ishinomaki with foreign and local Christian workers who strove, with love, to rebuild the city, helped dislodge my cynical biases about missions. The work with ICC felt holistic and tangible, and I think that is what bringing God’s kingdom to earth should look like. My involvement with ICC paved the way for me to return to Japan and work with Megumi Project in Tohoku full-time.” She is committed to two more years in Onagawa, Miyagi.
Three years into his work in Ishinomaki, third-generation Japan MK Jordan Foxwell (27) realized that he was now a “missionary.” His grandparents’ job description did not seem to apply to him. Their stories of arriving in post-World War II Japan seemed different from his story. They brought three years’ worth of food packed in a container because food was scarce, whereas his stories are of leading volunteer teams, rebuilding homes, refurbishing parks, and organizing children’s programs. Jordan said, “It’s mind-blowing what the work has involved and how God brought me into what he is doing in Ishinomaki.”
Many young relief workers have headed on to seminary. Satoshi Ueno (33) said, “As a surfer who never went to college, I didn’t think seminary was even an option for me, despite wanting to go.” He shared that, “Through the work in the disaster area, I came in contact with many pastors, missionaries, and ministry workers who spoke into my life. These people encouraged me and gave me the opportunity to be in full-time ministry. By God’s grace, I faced my weaknesses, and God shaped me to serve God and people. That’s what brought me to seminary.” Satoshi is now in his second year at Kansai Bible Institute.
Sometimes even shorter trips can make a big impact. Since 2012, Derek Yee (29), a Californian, has traveled multiple times to the Tohoku disaster area for trips between two weeks and three months. Half Japanese with a degree in Japanese language, he was perfectly prepared for ministry in Japan without realizing it. His first-hand experience of the needs in Japan led him to go to Fuller Seminary to prepare to become a pastor.
In the US, many young people go to seminary after tasting Christian leadership in college or youth ministry, but there is little opportunity for that in Japan. Instead, God opened a way through relief work. “When I took classes at Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya, I was surprised at how many students were there because of the disaster,” said Roger Lowther (41), missionary with Mission to the World. “Every month, it seemed, different students shared their testimony in chapel about hearing God’s call to full-time ministry while doing relief work.”
Many more stories could be told! The disaster proved to be a gateway for PKs, MKs, and those reluctant to do mission work to enter full-time ministry. God guided us into a path for our lives that we had not anticipated. As the Teacher said, “Consider what God has done: who can straighten what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13, NIV). God is working through the tragedy of 3.11 to raise a whole new generation in Japan, putting young workers in new and unexpected Christian leadership roles and redeeming brokenness in our world, all for the sake of His glory. Praise be to God!